David Hajdu
Books by David Hajdu Articles by David Hajdu About David Hajdu


Articles by David Hajdu
Read David Hajdu's blog,
The Famous Door
at tnr.com


Sample Article: "Wynton's Blues"
The Atlantic Monthly   March 2003


Articles:

The American Scholar

"Off the Beat" (Ralph Ellison)
  Summer 2001


The Atlantic Monthly

"Chameleon with a Toupee" (Bobby Darin)
  January-February 2005

"Wynton's Blues"
  March 2003


BookForum

"Persian Miniatures" (Marjane Satrapi)
  October-November 2004


Columbia Journalism Review

"Condition Critical,"
  January-February 2009

"Appetite for Fear,"
  January-February 2008


The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Rising Above the Rat Pack" (Sammy Davis, Jr.)
  November 23, 2003


Mother Jones

"Pete Seeger's Last War"
  October 2004

"Who's Got the Blues?"
  September/October 2003


The New Republic

"End the Bequine" (Artie Shaw)
   June 4, 2010

"Triumph of the Gypsies" (Django Reinhardt)
   Apr. 21, 2010

"Pretending" (Guitar Hero and Rock Band)
   Dec. 2, 2009

"Music in the Meltdown"
   June 3, 2009

"Keys to the Kingdom" (Michel Petrucciani)
   March 18, 2009

"Pop Women" (Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Lucinda Williams)
   Feb. 4, 2009

"Get Back" (John Lennon)
   October 22, 2008

"Breakout" (Alejandro Escovedo)
   August 13, 2008

"I Me Mine" (Open-Source Remixing)
   June 25, 2008

"High Hopes" (Campaign Songs)
   March 12, 2008

"The Sound of One Hand Composing" (Philip Glass)
   January 30, 2008

"They Paved Paradise" (Joni Mitchell)
   November 5, 2007

"Stolen Moments" (Abbey Lincoln and Mark Murphy)
   September 10, 2007

"TzadDik" (John Zorn)
   June 8, 2007

"Songbook Jam" (Mos Def)
   March 19, 2007

"Ye Olde Rocker" (Sting)
   January 29, 2007

"Heroine" (Anita O'Day)
   December 25, 2006

"The Lonesome Road" (Susannah McCorkle)
   October 16, 2006

"The Music of Starbucks"
  August 7, 2006

"The Producers" (Rick Rubin and Kanye West)
   May 29, 2006

"Instant Gratification: What MySpace Did to Music"
   March 6, 2006

"McCartney III"
  December 26, 2005

"Jumble Jumble" (White Stripes)
   July 25, 2005

"Heart Music" (Fred Hersch and Walt Whitman)
   May 16, 2005

"A Nice Young Man" (Josh Groban)
   March 7, 2005

"Unchained Heart" (Ray Charles)
   December 13, 2004

"God Only Knows" (Brian Wilson's Smile)
   October 25, 2004

"The Blogging of American Pop"
   September 6, 2004

"Where Has 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone' Gone?"
  June 28, 2004

"The iPod Blues"
  March 29, 2004

"The Body Eclectic" (Dave Douglas)
   Feb. 9, 2004

"Tramps Like Who?" (Bruce Springsteen)
   December 15, 2003

"This Year's Model" (Elvis Costello)
   October 6, 2003

"Ain't No Mountain" (Motown)

   September 1, 2003

"Authenticity Blues" (Alan Lomax)
   June 16, 2002



The New York Review of Books

"The Royal Blues" (Dinah Washington)
   June 23, 2005

"Hustling Elvis" (Col. Tom Parker)
   Oct. 9, 2003

"Comics for Grown-Ups" (Daniel Clowes and Joe Sacco)
   Aug. 14, 2003

"He Took Manhattan" (Richard Rodgers)
   Aug. 15, 2002

"The Spirit of the Spirit" (Will Eisner)
   June 20, 2001

"Not Quite All That Jazz" (Ken Burns' Jazz)
   Feb. 8, 2001

"Fascinatin' Rhythm" (Harry Partch)
   July 20, 2000


The New Yorker

"Folk Hero" (Woody Guthrie)
  March 29, 2004

"Birthday of the Cool" (Benny Waters)
   Mar. 11, 1996


The New York Times Book Review

"God Gets Graphic" (Robert Crumb's "Genesis")
   Oct. 25, 2009

"Blues Capitalist" (W. C. Handy)
   May 10, 2009

"Music Lessons" (John Adams)
   Oct. 26, 2008

"Jazz Man" (Nathaniel Mackey)
   Feb. 24, 2008

"Stars and Strips" Dec. 3, 2006

"Art Spiegelman Without the Towers"
   Sept. 12, 2004

"The Life and Death of Cool" (Chet Baker)
   June 30, 2002

"Jerry's Kids"
   Jan. 17, 1999

"Yankee Doodle Dandy" (James Cagney)
   Dec. 7, 1997


The New York Times Magazine

"Giant Steps" (Fred Hersch)
   Jan. 31, 2010

"His Mad World" (Will Elder)
   Dec. 28, 2008

"Queer As Folk"
   Aug. 18, 2002

"Things Are What They Used to Be"
   Dec. 31, 2000

"When Wrestling Was Noir"
   Jan. 2, 2000

"Rhapsody in Black and White" (Herbie Hancock and George Gershwin)
   Oct. 25, 1998


The New York Times/Op-Ed
The Toys Are Us

   June 18, 2010

"Exploring the Universe, One B-Movie at a Time" (Star Trek)
   May 10, 2009

"Tenor of the Times"
   Sept. 8, 2007

"We Are a Camera"
   Oct. 15, 2006

"Guns and Poses"
   Mar. 11, 2005

"Those Glorious Pre-Détente Days"
   Sept. 26, 1998


The New York Times

"His Kind of River"
   March 22, 2009

"In a Famous Brother's Shadow"
  June 6, 1999

"Jazz Is Not What They're Famous For"
  June 28, 1998


Rolling Stone

"Waking the Dead"
   Sept. 8, 2005


Vanity Fair

"Bound for Glory,"
  May 2001

"Billy and the Duke"
  May 1999



The Village Voice

"The King of Croon" (Bing Crosby)
   Mar. 6, 2001

"Something to Live For"
  June 23, 1992







RETURN TO HOMEPAGE